Future So Bright: Prequel to Letter
by ItsAlwaystheBadGuys
Summary: A prequel to my one-shot Letter, detailing how my OC Hel and Mr. Burke met and their rough relationship started. Rated M for hot and steamy later chapters... ;P


Chapter 1

Gasping for breath, Hel leaned against the gates to the city of Megaton. As one would expect, escaping from the vault she'd called home her whole life as if she were a deadly fugitive had taken a lot out of her. Hands shaking, she forced herself not to cry, though a few stray tears made it past her squeezed eyelids and trailed through the ash colored dirt smeared across her face. The wind kicked up the dust laying thick on the ground and plastered everything in it like powdered paint. She'd never experienced wind before, and so far she didn't think much of it. Straightening, Hel sniffed and pushed the gates aside.

A man introducing himself as Lucas Simms, sheriff of Megaton, met her as soon as she stepped through the gate, "So what business do you have here in Megaton?"

"I'm looking for my father."

...

Downing another shot, Richard Burke leaned an elbow on the table and set his chin in his hand, staring at the table through the bottom of the empty shot glass. Trying to block out the fucking ghoul bartender's yelling and banging on the piece of shit radio at the end of the counter; he poured himself another shot. God how he hated this place. He relished the thought of finally finding someone that could and would carry out the mission he had for them.

A tin can blew in from outside as the door opened and a new face wearing a vault suit stepped through. Burke straightened in his seat to get a better look at her. Red hair, tangled from the wind outside, was haphazardly pulled back into a ponytail. Blue eyes scanned the room as she made her way to the bar. She wasn't scared, but her steps were unsure, like she didn't know how to be out in public. Dismissing her, Burke slumped against his hand again. There was no reason in calling over someone like her. She was nice on the eyes though...

Moriarty was saying something to her now, and she didn't seem to like it. Those blue eyes stared hard at the saloon owner, and one hand inched towards the gun at her hip. Shaking her head, she pointed at Moriarty and said something that in turn got under his skin. Crossing his arms, Moriarty grinned, looked her up and down and said what Burke could only guess was something lewd because the girl slid the gun from its holster and aimed it right at Moriarty's head.

"Fuck you," she said loud enough for him to hear.

Hiding a grin behind his shot glass, Burke waited until she turned to leave, then raised his hand, catching her eye. When he waved her over, she rolled her eyes and shook her head, then stomped back out the door.

Chuckling into his shot glass, Burke muttered to himself, "Mission accomplished."

...

Digging through school lockers for caps, Hel growled to herself, "I'll kill that blackmailing scum." The amount of caps Moriarty was asking for just to give her information on her father was something she was having a hard time getting. She didn't think it would be this difficult, but she had to spend caps to eat and to sleep (in the same basterd's saloon no less) and so it was taking a while to set aside a separate amount to pay him off with. She'd soon as kill him than have to pay him, but she wanted to find her dad, and make sure he was alright.

Groaning as her back popped as she straightened, Hel pushed her hand against the small of her back, "I think it's time I had home."

Megaton wasn't far from the school, she could jog back in about a half hour. Once back inside the gates, she hesitated going up to Moriarty's saloon. She wasn't in the mood to deal with him tonight, but there was nowhere else to sleep. Once again, she groaned, but shuffled her feet up the ramp.

Shoving the door aside with her shoulder, she smiled and let out a sigh of relief when she found only Gob at the counter, Moriarty nowhere to be found, "Boy am I glad to see you," Hel said before the ghoul could.

Laughing, Gob reached out a hand for her to shake, "Good to see ya friend. Same?"

"Yes please," tilting her head slightly, Hel peeked past her right shoulder to find the man with the hat and sunglasses watching her like he always did. Every time she walked in or out of the saloon, he'd try to wave her over, and she'd ignored him every time. Hel had expected him to either give up or approach her on his own by now, but apparently he persisted that she come and sit with him.

Gob clunked a beer down in front of her, "Thanks Gob, hey, who is that man?"

Swiveling his rotting neck round to see who she meant, Gob frowned, "That's Burke. Arrogant ass if you ask me," his voice grated and he wheezed, "He's bad news, Hel. Stay away from him."

"Will do."

...

Okay, so Burke wouldn't leave me alone about my half-story about him, so I'm attempting to write a proper prequel. We'll see how this goes considering I'll now have three stories going at once and I barely have time for the first two as it is! ;P

The jumping around between days in my Fallout fanfics is due to the fact that I don't feel like writing a bunch of unnecessary regurgitation of game play. I figure anyone reading a Fallout fanfic has played enough of the game to know what could possibly be filling up the breaks between my characters points of view.

...blame Quentin Tarantino. ;P


End file.
